'Collapse', by Jared Diamond. I can't recommend it enough. It's probably been reviewed/

[codjh9]

recommended here before (copyright 2005), but as Business Week's review (surprising to me!) said, 'It's also the deal of the year - the equivalent of a year's college course by an engaging, brilliant, professor, all for the price of a book.'

It's quite a read. He covers several 'ancient' societies that failed, such as the Maya, Anasazi, Vikings (in Greenland only), Easter Island, and a few that didn't, and examines why. He also talks about numerous modern-day countries/societies and the problems they face, such as Montana (a surprise, but if you read it you'll see why he chose it), Australia, China, and others. In the last chapter - and I urge you to read that in the library or bookstore if you're not going to read the whole book :^) - he summarizes what he thinks is going on in the world (environmentally, pollution, population, global warming?), both good and bad signs. As he puts it (I don't have the exact quote here), things are getting worse and worse, but the *efforts* to improve things are getting better and bigger as well, so who will win the horse race?

[Speck Tater]

1. I second the motion. Well worth reading. NT

[IndyOp]

2. Thanks for the suggestion - Thanksgiving Break is coming up and I am actively

contemplating what I will read over break.

:hi:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. Guns, Germs and Steel is my favorite book

I will check this one out for sure,

[Danascot]

4. I highly recommend it

It's like taking a really interesting college course. It's a big book and if you find it daunting you might do what I did .... found it at the library as an audio book and listened to it while driving.

If you haven't read "Guns, Germ and Steel" also by Diamond, it's another excellent read.

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. It is

a very informative and interesting book. I read everything I find by Jared Diamond . He used to write for Discover magazine , but I don't know if he still does .

[Independent_Thinker]

6. Read the book also... it was good

But I am still uncertain if you can derive the same conclusions from some rather isolated (geographically) incidents in history. With the interconnectedness of the world now, his conclusions can only lead to mass extermination of the human population. I am not convinced that we are at that point. I believe in the ingenuity of our species to triumph over adversity.

Did anyone read his other book: Guns, Germs and Steel?

[MadMaddie]

7. Reading it now and it is facinating and scary!